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Officials Payment Procedure

Per USQ policy, certified head referees must be paid $15 per game in order for that game to be considered official. All certified lead assistant referees must be paid $10 per game. All fully certified snitch runners must be paid $8 per game. At USQ Regional Championships and US Quidditch Cup, certified head referees will be paid $20 per game.

USQ has created these payment policies to help officials plan their expenditures and project baseline earnings for each event. The following guidelines should assist both tournament directors and officials in establishing best practices and setting expectations. Please note this policy also applies to proctors.

A certified quidditch official is a temporary contract position; an official contracts with the event hosts for the duration of their scheduled matches. As such, all income earned is taxable income and both officials and event hosts (the contractors) are required to report it. For this reason, event hosts may request a completed IRS W-9 form (the W-9 form does require the contract worker’s Social Security number) from their contract workers in order to remit payment. When a tournament director requests a W-9 form, officials must comply with this request if they would like to receive their payment.

US Quidditch pays officials via check for accounting and tax purposes, but officials should expect payment in the method that works best for the tournament hosts. Event hosts should specify the payment method, and if any additional information is required, before the tournament (i.e. via check and you will need to fill out a W-9 form).

Officials payments should be sent within seven days following the event. Exceptions can be made for tournaments where payment is being processed by a third-party organization (e.g. universities). USQ-run events will send officials payments within 30 days of the event. Tournament directors should inform referees in advance when they can expect payment. If two weeks have elapsed since the payment deadline and an official has not yet received payment for an event, they may report the missing payment to events@usquidditch.org. Included in this email should be tournament name, tournament director name, date of tournament, and matches officiated. USQ will follow up with the tournament director regarding the late payment and, if needed, follow the tournament director probation policy.

If an official is scheduled for a match within a 24 hour period in advance of the scheduled match start time, they must be paid for that match.

During tournaments where officials scheduling is happening as the tournament progresses, officials are not guaranteed payment until they begin working a match.

24 hours before an event, officials payment will lock to be at least the games for which they are scheduled. If the official ends up working fewer games, they must still be paid the amount they were scheduled for at the 24-hour lock. If the official works more games, they must be paid for the total amount of games they worked. At USQ-run events, officials will be given a payment sheet at the 24-hour lock which will denote how many games at each position they are scheduled, to be used as the baseline for their pay during the event.

In the case of inclement weather causing an event to be canceled, officials will be paid a percentage of what they would have made based on how many time slots remain in the event. If 1-2 time slots are cancelled, officials are paid 75% of the total of what they would have made. If 3-6 time slots are cancelled, officials are paid 50% of the total of what they would have made. If 7 or more time slots are cancelled, they are paid 25%.

Officials are expected to keep their mailing address up to date on the USQ website. For USQ-run events, addresses will be verified pre-event when officials review their payment sheet.

Certified officials are required to print and sign their name on the scorecard for each match they work. Any official that does not sign the scorecard will not be paid for the match.

US Quidditch (USQ) is a magical 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to governing the sport of quidditch and advancing the sport by organizing events and programs that build community and empower all genders to compete together. Inspired by the Harry Potter novels, USQ serves athletes and fans, from sport-lovers to book-lovers and everything in between.